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DIY Rice Sack Heating Pads

The worst actually. But I can’t stop making these rice sack heating pad thingies. I was given one years ago as a gift and haven’t been able to survive a single second without one since. I’ve made about 3,526 of them in the last 2 years. No joke. They rule as gifts. And when you heat them up and put them on your shoulders, stomach, legs, back, or chest – I’m warning you: all sorts of hyperbolicious things will happen in your life.

So, today on the WEIDNER CRAFT SHOW I thought I’d show ya just how much of a cinch they are to make.

* This one in particular is for my leetle sister, Barbara. So hey, Bar – IS THAT EDWARD CULLEN OVER THERE AND NOT ON THIS WEBSITE BLOG POST?

Grab 3 pounds of jasmine rice, a single piece of fabric, some needles and thread. I love jasmine rice because when you heat it up, the scent? Stop it now.

See these little single pieces of fabric? They’re like a buck at your fabric store. Stock up. Go crazy.

Fold the cloth in half and inside out. OH – and right now would be a good time to iron it. I forgot because I was too busy thinking about MY FIRST CRAFT post. (!!!)

Fold the edges over and pin it all in place.

Then find some cute thread and sew across the flap.

And then sew back the other direction. Is this making sense? Design Sponge is SO not going to hire me.

Then you fold the other edge in and do the same.

See how I did that? Ignore my sad knot.

Then you flip it right side out and you have a little sack. Be sure and leave one end open!

Pour ze rice in.

Take the opening and fold the edges in.

Pin, pin, pin.

Sew, sew, sew. Snip the excess.

This is my signature knotting style. AKA: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

And you’re done! Make at least 25 because you’re going to want them on every inch of your body every single day of every year.

I honestly can’t stress this enough.

And this concludes the WEIDNER CRAFT SHOW for today. Okay so, should I Etsy my face off with this or WHAT?

78 Responses to DIY Rice Sack Heating Pads

These are adorable and you're crafty!! I LOVE IT!
And I love that the craft you made is super functional. I am all over this!
Random question...when you heat this in the micro, does the rice start to cook at all?
I have memories of using frozen bags of peas as ice packs per a doctor's suggestion once and would up with the smell of peas wafting everywhere. It was lovely :)

Thank you! You can get jasmine rice pretty much anywhere! This particular bag was from Trader Joe's. But I also find it at my regular grocery store, or any Asian food market. They'll be cheaper at TJ's or the Asian food market, just fyi. If you can't find the jasmine, regular rice is JUST fine. :)

Love these! I'm totally not crafty either but I actually make something similar! I make them in all kinds of shapes and sizes, I'm thinking of making a flower shaped one for my daughter but I don't know if I'm that skilled, lol! We actually use whole wheat berries to fill ours but the rice sounds like an awesome idea. I noticed your fabric was, but I thought I should mention, make sure your fabric is always 100% cotton. I didn't once and it wasn't pleasant. Oops! :D

These are awesome and the exact amount of sewing skill I can handle. We had to make pillows in Home Ec in 7th grade. I choose a dinosaur (no friggin idea why) and then decided to sew it in purple fabric. As we all know purple + dinosaur = Barney. For some reason however, I didn't realize that until after I had the most pathetic looking Barney replica known to man. Rice sacks seem safe. :)

Somewhere Martha Stewart is sitting in a dark closet, rocking back and forth, eating an entire bag of teeny tiny Milkway Midnight bars. She knows the competition is closing in. And it keeps her up at night.
You never cease to amaze me, Bev. I'm making a buttload of these over the holidays.
As soon as I figure out how many fat quarters it takes to make a buttload. And fat quarters are those little pre-packaged fabric squares, not a slam on anyone's pudgy backside, just so we're clear.
Happy holidays, Bev! -jeanne

I use to make these for my children when they would walk to the bus and wait out for it in the cold Michigan winters. Just little ones to heat in the microwave and tuck into their gloves or coat pockets. They soon became the envy of the bus stop.

These rice sacks are lovely. Somewhat along the same idea of the eye pillows I've been making...satin fabric, flaxseed, rice, lavender flowers and a few drops of lavender oil. Can you say Shavasana? Yes.

OMG Bev! My shoulders are killing me and I this looks heavenly. Are fabric singles like fat quarters? I haven't seen "singles" at my craft store. I'm sure I'll figure it out. This really is a great gift. Out comes the Singer :)

I just happened across your page while searching "rice bags". So glad I did! I absolutely love your banter throughout your step by step process. Had me laughing the whole read:) I was researching them so I could make for a new business venture I am now ADDICTED to. And with the help of your rice bag tutorial, I'm even more excited! THANK YOU FOR THE GREAT HOW TO AND ENTERTAINMENT:)
One last thing...couldn't help but notice your fun nails. If you get a chance, between rice bags, ;) please take a moment to checkout my website: sinfullybeautifulnails.jamberrynails.net You may have just found another use and body part for those rice bags of yours:)
Cheers!
Angie Billau
angela_elite@hotmail.com

I want these on every inch of my body, please! I'm so not crafty and so not a seamstress so in an attempt to make these, I'll probably have 500 needle wounds on my fingers, but I feel that they'd be worth it because I love heating pads. I have a bad knee and back (seriously, what am I, 65?!) and I use them all the time -- what a great way to REUSE and not buy those disposable ones. NICE, BEV!!! :)

The boys and I made these for their teachers gifts and added lavender to the mix...smells so good! I've also been in a hurry and put the rice in baby socks and tied them with rubber bands to throw in everyone's pockets before heading out into the snow!! These are cute Bev!

You're so right about the awesome-ness of these!! I totally love them, and yours are way the heck more adorable than mine ever were (I've always made them out of tube socks, what? tacky? maybe. . . ) And the gift idea = Hi-five! Jasmine rice makes me want to gnaw a hole in the bag - let me tell you - you can use a couple drops of essential oil too - like lavender, but really, who wants to eat lavender? Oh- right, we're not supposed to eat the rice bag. . . . Love it! And love your blog - just found it a couple weeks ago!

These are so cute! I love the idea. My sister keeps telling me about deer corn pillows that she makes and suggesting I try them. I will have to try one or the other for sure! Thanks for sharing, Bev. :)

i am obsessed with rice heating pads... especially ones with lavender in them :) the rice "snakes" are perrrrfect for wrapping over your shoulder or around your neck. anyways, thanks so much for sharing how to make them. they would really be the perfect gift!

Great craft post! I make rice pads out of socks all the time, but I'd never give one as a gift because they are so ugly. Pour rice in a sock, tie a knot. Ugly! I could totally do this and they would be great gifts. Thanks.

I just made one of those for my mother in law, it is absolutely AWESOME!!!! I am very glad I could not decide and bought a bunch a pieces of fabric, it is so quick to put together. Thank you SOOOOOOO much!!!!!! you seriously just made Christmas even awesomer! (and warmer :) )

I have one of these, but with corn inside. I love it! Sometimes on cold days I'll heat it up for just a minute or so in the microwave and sit it on my lap just to keep me warm. Better than a laptop! But now I think I might need a rice one. So nice!

Just whipped one of these up last night on my new sewing machine as a test project (its new and fancy and I was totally afraid of that machine - I'm use to the old school sewing machine my mom had!). It is soooooo wonderful and craftastic!
Totally going on my "Crafts for Christmas Gifts List"!
(I know its March but I'm an a-type, OCD planner - its part of my charm?)

Hahahaah, omg yes. I've totally overheated them a time or 40 before and you're right! It does smell like popcorn!
And yes - I've scented them before, two diff ways: you can either put essential oil drops down IN the rice sack before sewing it up, OR you could just put a couple of drops on the sack after it's been heated. Either way! I like doing it after as the scent hangs around longer. :)

Thank you for the step by step. I can't wait to make these, but have to wait until my Mother in Law visits next week since I don't know how to sew (gasp!).
Did you know you can stick some in the freezer too...they are great as cold packs too. Don't get super cold, but doesn't stay cold that long (not that my kids sit still after an injury long enough for it to get warm anyway).
My aunt made one once, not sure what happened to it, but I NEED more. I plan on making a long skinnier one for my neck too!

I read on another post about washing cotton before this project to make it softer. Any thoughts on that? If it seems unnecessary, which I'm assuming since I haven't seen it mentioned here and you've clearly made your share of these, I'd love to skip that step!

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About Bev

Welcome! Bev Weidner is a food blogger, an obsessed photo-taker of her twins, a wifester, a cheese lover, a musician, a runner, knows every word and lyric to The Sound of Music, and a continual changer of hair-er. And she just said all of that in third person.
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